Student Case Studies

Our students talk about their work

How do you get to sit in the editor's chair of a glossy business magazine while you're still in your 20s?

Well, a spell back in the classroom could prove a sound investment, it seems - even for somebody who has already gained some "hands-on" industry experience...Read more

No one should think that spending a long hot August on an intensive journalism training course is an easy option, but the LSJ's Summer School is a popular tradition, ideal for university students wanting to get an early taste of journalism as a career, for mature students considering a change in career, and for students from abroad wanting to consolidate their existing writing...Read more

Fresh out of performing arts school, dancer Nicci P couldn't believe her luck when she was sent to Italy to work in the summer of 1999.

But she couldn't have realised when she embarked on her first lone train journey across Europe that the experience was also going to change the course of her eventual career...Read more

Against the backdrop of a global economic recession and with major job cuts across the media industry, nobody would claim that a career switch is easy - especially when you are studying in the evenings and working during the day to make ends meet.

Can a fascination with science tie in with a love of writing? Not on the UK school syllabus, it seems, where timetabling clashes often make it impossible to study English alongside subjects like maths, physics or chemistry.

Such study options are rare at university too - one reason why Hal Hodson found himself studying astrophysics...Read more

For Laura S, landing a dream job on the fashion desk of The Sun came down to one journalistic quality above all others – perseverance.

Now 28, she was working in public relations when she embarked on the nine month postgraduate course in 2005, but had always felt she was working on the “wrong side of the fence”...Read more

Like dozens of other aspiring young journalists in Italy, Gabriele P found his writing career being held back by the slow processes of gaining formal accreditation in Italy. He already had two years' practical experience before he applied for the six-month postgraduate course in London in 2011 - so what was the attraction of pursuing his training in the UK?...Read more

Switching careers was a big gamble for 32-year-old architect Bobby P.
During the eight years he spent designing hotel interiors, he could hardly have foreseen that within a couple of years of completing the three month LSJ postgraduate course...Read more

Bobby has requested that his photograph is not identifiable

As a young man growing up in Zambia, Charles M always had a strong interest in the media - and he got his first "break" volunteering for a community radio station shortly after leaving school. Passionate about community service and the role of journalists in standing up for the rights of ordinary people, he pursued a career in broadcasting before embarking on the LSJ's distance learning journalism course...Read more

A lifelong interest in language and writing drew Marianne to Switzerland and to a career in radio production and translation.

But when she embarked on the LSJ's online postgraduate course in February 2008, it was with the aim of harnessing her writing skills to work as a freelance journalist...Read more

It takes courage and determination to give up a successful professional career to pursue your writing dreams.

Fotoula S, who lives in central Greece, was teaching English in the private sector when her love of reading, research and writing led her to embark on the LSJ's Freelance and Features Writing course....Read more

Paddy S’s journey into journalism took him from the back streets of Bristol to the searing desert heat of Dubai.

After completing the three month postgraduate course in 2002, he set aside several weeks for work experience on different papers –from the Wandsworth Borough News in London...Read more

For Chicago journalism student Karen B, entertainment reporting was always a first love – even though that didn’t prevent her from developing a nose for news during her time at the LSJ on a three month course.

By the time she flew back to the States one of her proudest moments was a review of a gig...Read more

For Hilary M, moving around the world for the past 30 years has exposed her to a range of different writing experiences. But when she embarked on the LSJ's features and freelance course, she hadn't really considered freelance writing as a career - and could not have envisaged the thrill of having a programme broadcast on the BBC's World Service...Read more

From the time when she wrote poems as a teenager, Meena M knew that she wanted to write for a living.

Having lived in Bahrain for most of her life, she started sending features to the Bahrain Tribune in 2003 and was offered a job on the paper the following year...Read more

Every aspiring sports journalist dreams of one day being able to write for a national paper and tour the world following the game they love.

For Dean W, the dream came true in 2006 while he was still in his 20s - thanks to a lucky break and several years of hard graft for a sports agency...Read more

It's not every journalist who's prepared to put up with abuse, baton beatings and death threats in their search for a story.

Jason P, however, is getting used to being literally 'on the front line' when the tear gas starts flying....Read more

Editor of an English-language newspaper in Spain, published author - Richard T's CV looks like that of a long-established professional writer. But that isn't in fact the case. It was only in 2003 that Richard decided on a career change that was to turn a pastime into a full-time career....Read more

Sarah G qualified as an optician when she left university – but she had harboured an interest in broadcast journalism from an early age.
Helping out friends on hospital and university radio stations had given her a taste for broadcasting and the LSJ postgraduate diploma course seemed a logical way to explore the possibility...Read more

Nataliya V's love affair with journalism started long before her first story appeared in a Moscow-based daily in 2007.

In fact it actually began with a real romance when, as a 21-year-old student in Moscow, she briefly dated an Australian journalist and was fascinated by his job....Read more

Neil's mellifluous tones have singled him out as one of the most distinctive presenters on BBC Radio 4.

Millions of other listeners around the globe know him for his World Service broadcasts - no mean achievement from the boy from Jamaica who, as a 12-year-old, listened avidly to the radio and dreamed of one day reading the news himself...Read more

"I also wanted to let you know that as a result of sending off my
interview feature, from a previous assignment, to some local
publications, I was approached last week about becoming a regular
contributor for one of the magazines! This couldn't have happened
without my doing the LSJ course, so I want to thank you again for all
your help." Eleanor D

"After finishing my course at LSJ, I started to write regularly as a
professional freelance for Bass Guitar and Music Mart magazines. Since
then, I've added quite a few extra magazines to the list..."Petra J

"I also wanted to say THANK YOU for giving me such great advice and
criticism - far beyond what I expected from an online course. I'm sure I
will be looking back over your notes for many years to come." Claire J